Iran admits it unintentionally shot down passenger jet

One side is far more prolific and inventive on that front than the other.

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“I said what I said. I did not say what I did not say.” - A. Korzybyzki
I did not make any comparisons between the two parties’ extent of lying or the enormity of the consequences thereof. Other people bring that up–fine by me, but not what I was referring to.

Here’s my contribution to that topic:
Democrat lies and corruption likely kept Bernie Sanders from beating Trump in 2016 and led us, among other things, to this discussion. EDIT: I forgot to include that I would have and will vote for Bernie Sanders if given the opportunity by our political establishment.

While true, that bar is so low it’s subterranean.

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Anti-centrist-establishment sentiments from deliberately framed both-sides-isms don’t inspire much confidence, especially when you don’t stand by your explicit framing of “Republicans are bad, but don’t forget that Democrats are also bad in the same way.” Leaving our magnitude intentionally is at best misleading, and at worst the exact same kind of partisan language you also are also say you are not a fan of.

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Yeah my first thought was " who’s flying over Iran " and second " first of all, you shouldn’t be "

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Repeating from another thread:

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Still trying to get clarity on IFF (Identify Friend Foe)

Historically we had mode-c and mode-3 transmissions from an aircraft which transmitted a twelve bit SSR code. The value of that code identifies the origin of the aircraft.

But now we have mode-s, which can carry an SSR code, as well as a 24 but airframe ID, and GPS data.

But around military facilities, GPS may be jammed. If that happens, aircraft won’t transmit ADS-B data on mode-S.

So how does IFF work now? Does it rely on periodic broadcast from the aircraft (ADS-B)?

Or does it rely on the aircraft being interrogated by a radar, monitoring, mode-3, mode-a or mode-s?

What happens of a modern aircraft optimizes its squawk for better compatibility with air traffic control? Is compatibility with IFF still a requirement?

Is IFF just not reliable on the Boeing 737? Why would it be? Its not a military aircraft.

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That week? This year? Ever?

The United States experienced a total shutdown of commercial flights exactly once in our history, for a period of around 48 hours following the 9/11 attacks. Even that brief interruption was incredibly disruptive to our society and economy. Imagine that situation enduring indefinitely.

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The earlier speculation putting blame on Boeing was just stupid to watch. It’s not very fun to see the same kind of jumping to conclusions “we” criticize in “them”

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what will the black box reveal now

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I’m digesting the news, but finding it chewy. Takeoff speed of a 737 is 150 mph, cruise missile flies at 500 mph. Maybe someone switched on an automated system (I’ve seen that happen on a warship tour, and the sailors freaked out - it was tracking a passenger aircraft overhead).

Maybe their system doesn’t have an off button. Who knows?

Maybe the passengers have more to them than we know.

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Let’s not victim blame here.

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I read that more as “Maybe there was a high value target we don’t know about there”, rather than “It’s the passengers fault for flying”.

It’s a regime known for taking out political opponents, but I disagree on that front - they had to know what shooting down a plane full of their own people would do, given the repeated calling out of the Vincennes incident.

Not to mention the level of evil mastermind required to say “Hey, political rival X is getting on a plane during all this, want them to have an accident?” falls pretty short of my Occam’s Razor sniff test.

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Not to mention domestic reaction to being openly lied to by the government. I guess in some countries, that still matters. Who knew?

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Hundreds of demonstrators, as in the US demonstrations against the assassination.

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Civilian aircraft use Mode 3 / Mode a. Military anti-aircraft at the operator level aren’t looking at ADS-B at all as matter of course. They would be receiving those updates from their Early-Warning network, if its available.

Additionally if the anti-aircraft battery is in a RED FREE status then they arent even going to look at IFF either.

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Not victim blaming, apols if I was unclear (I think I was indeed unclear)

The event as portrayed is credible, but conveys a deep incompetence on behalf of the Iranian military. My thoughts are around Russian involvement and a Ukrainian airline - stuff of films and busy weekends I suppose - but I haven’t read much specificity about what caused the missile launch.

More will come in the days, but these events have a way of gathering an acceptable narrative after a few days. In those chaotic few days, there are a lot of tea leaves to read.

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Well those were just first thoughts, “naturally” there’s regular flights going in and out of the country

Air control should have communicated. Definitely lessons to be learned from all of this. All we can do now is hope that this found knowledge is applied.

His name was Qassem Suleimani, and I am glad he is dead. For those in the west that do not know who this man was I suggest this article written back in 2013 about this man. No Iranian who values freedom and democracy sheds a single tear for him. The downing of the plane, however is a horrid and trajic event.